The Lighter Side

Hoping to fit in with his old friends, Perez decided to give his old school uniform a try.  I returned home from speaking yesterday surprised to see him wearing the clothes reminiscent of when we first met him.  We had to make sure that he didn't want to stay at Victors (Don't worry Mrs. Fisher, he still wants to come back to your class). 

It has been interesting to hear all of the Ugandan's describe Perez as an American boy.  His accent, his demeanor, and so civilized compared to the others here...he sticks out.  The same is true at home.  Compared to others, he has an accent and he's somewhat barbaric...he sticks out.  None of it seems to bother him though and there's no question that we talk and think about such things much more than he does.  

Ali was busy at work today, helping kids with a craft, taking photos and teaching her photo class at the vocational school (which she says is going quite well), I had sort of a rest day.  Perez and I jumped on a boda boda (motorcycle taxi) and went into town.  We ate fish and chips at a the locals favorite, best meals.  We walked down to the market and bought Talapia, chapati, eggs, bananas and ice cream.  And we returned home on the boda's.  On the return trip, we each rode on our own boda because Perez wanted to race (Dad won...only because the driver was told to follow).

It rained this afternoon.  Hard.  I don't think there is a phrase coined yet for the heavy rain they receive here.  The people here desperately depend on this frequent rain, but its not all blessing. The rain reeks havoc on this small town.  Roads are destroyed, homes are threatened and the mud flows everywhere.  Still, the people are grateful.

We finished the day preparing one of the worst meals we've attempted.  We thought fish tacos would be good.  So we bought fish, a whole fish...already deep fried.  I'm sorry I don't have a picture of this, but the deep fried whole fish laying on the table is one of the least appetizing things I've seen.  I broke of the head and tail and began peeling away the meat from the bone and Ali prepared the tortillas.  They don't have tortillas here, so we used the chapati we purchased earlier in the day.  Chapati is a sort of flat bread.  It's good, but it's much too thick and heavy for a taco.  We added some raw cabbage and a squeeze of lemon and choked down each bite.  The only good part of the meal was the fish (after you take away those deep fried glaring eyes and remove the crunchy scales, the fish is very good).  Perez missed out on this delicacy, he crashed at around 4:30 and we think he may sleep through the night...or at least we hope!

The day had its challenges too, as each of them do in a place rampant with poverty, but every once in awhile its refreshing for us to consider the lighter side of our journeys.

From Uganda with love